Miriam N. Kotzin wrote
the first Per Contra article concerning flash fiction nearly three years
ago. Nano-fiction, however, remains enigmatic to many.

Two specific types of
nano-fiction require explanation. The fifty-fiver and sixty-niner forms of
flash fiction are often confusing and difficult to define. Like all forms
of flash fiction, these forms are short stories. But unlike the longer
flashes, they are distilled into a powerful and pure essence. A
fifty-fiver, or sixty-niner, must adhere to the same principles as a five
hundred to seven hundred word flash, but it must deliver a story in
one-tenth of the space.

The effect of
well-crafted nano-fiction is a not at all subtle impact on the reader's
intellect and emotions. The distillation of the story to create nano-fiction
usually requires the writer to place the reader directly into the conflict
of the story and carry him or her through to the resolution in a space that
could scarcely fit a description of an egg, or some other small object. The
intensity of such a form is immediate to the reader.

Just as flash fiction has
varying opinions of length and form, so too does nano-fiction. Some people
believe that fifty-five word fiction is defined strictly by the number of
words it contains. The Wikipedia entry "55 Fiction" states that it is
merely fifty five words or less. I prefer the definition used in Miriam N.
Kotzin's essay that compares a Fifty-fiver to a sonnet.

In this sense, not only
is it distilled by length – demanding economy – and forced to express the
range of fiction in concise terms, but it bears the second demand of form.
A fifty-fiver set in form is a close relative of poetry, while retaining the
elements of fiction that make a good story. The form is outlined in the
fifty-five word explanation I've written below:

Make sure that your
fifty-five word fiction adheres to form. Fifty-five words must form the ten
sentences in order. The first sentence is exactly ten words long. Each
following sentence is one word shorter. The last will contain one word.

This could seem quite
difficult. In fact, it isn't. It demands efficiency. It's simple. Right?

While those sentences
demonstrate the form, they are not a true fifty-fiver. As I mentioned, the
form still requires the elements of fiction to be present. Below I include
a sample of a true fifty-fiver:

Taylor's father never
missed a game in ten years' time. He sat on the fourth row, eight seats
down. One year he almost caught a foul ball. It bounced near them to the
right.

Taylor would've loved to
get it. He never had a chance. Sitting alone he remembers. One seat's
empty. Dad left. Unfulfilled.

The sixty-niner is not
restrained by form. It only requires that sixty nine words are the length
of the fiction. The lack of form only makes this nano-fiction slightly less
difficult. Like its longer relatives, a sixty-niner should function as a
complete story. Miriam N. Kotzin provides an example:

Lace Curtains

We were happy together. I'd tell you. Fifty-three
years. Week nights I had dinner ready at six -- and when they were still
home I had the children sitting, clean and quiet, around the table. This
very morning after Mass I lit a candle. Kathleen or James, the darlings,
take me to his grave each week for a wee visit. Happy? What would be the
point, now, of the truth.

Fortunately, growing
interest in flash fiction makes my essay one opinion of many. As flash
grows in popularity, the demand for fiction will ultimately determine which
forms of it survive and which become snapshots of a generation. These nano-fiction
forms may serve as steps to another experiment, or may be an end in
themselves. Regardless of the outcome, they are vital fiction at present.